How It Ends And Begins
by Nonnihil Scelestus
Summary: She walked away to end it, but like any circle, it was just the beginning.


Disclaimer: I don't own Devil Wears Prada. Like always, I'm just playing

**How It Ends And Begins**

She hesitated a moment before tossing her phone in the fountain. She wanted to cut all the ties, knew that was the only way to leave, but it was the last connection she had to the woman she had come to love. She had wanted to say something in the car, to give her the ultimatum that had been weighing on her heart, but didn't know how to give voice to all the emotions and feelings welling up inside of her. And as well as she could anticipate the needs of the other woman, she also knew she wasn't one to suffer the indignity of an ultimatum, especially one issued by her lowly assistant. So when the car had rolled to a stop and the older woman had exited into the flash of the cameras and the push of the paparazzi, she had slipped away, no one seeing her but Roy, the driver.

Her phone rang as she studied the screen, the telltale ring of the woman she had just walked away from. It took all of her will power to not answer and to throw the phone away, but she did it. When she reached the other side of the plaza, she looked back, she could give herself that much, but the older woman had already been engulfed in the pull of the crowd.

She had no doubt in her mind that she was royally screwed. No one walked away from Miranda Priestly and lived to tell the tale of their life. Andy fully expected to be blacklisted by the time she returned to New York. When she started applying for jobs, she fully expected them all to read her name and know that she as the one who dared, and be unwilling to touch her with an eight-foot pole. But nothing happened. She was able to slip back into a slower paced life of writing, albeit an emptier life. She had to admit to herself that Nate had been right when he said that she was in a relationship with Miranda, in a platonic sense anyway, and now she felt a hollow ache where the woman's presence had lived. She missed her, despite the fact that she really had no right miss her at all. She had no claim over the woman. Andy briefly wondered if she would ever have the opportunity to tell her beautiful and icy ex-boss exactly why she had walked away. She put the thought away to wishful thinking and returned to her job search.

A few weeks later Andy was working for the New York Mirror. She walked out of the interview and toward Elias-Clarke. She wanted to rush up to that big office and throw her arms around the woman. She knew that it would not be taken well. In fact that would be deemed taking her life into her own hands, and strangling herself with it. No, she would just stop outside and look up to that big window that hid the office of the woman she was wishing she didn't have to live without.

Movement brought her gaze down from the heavens and to the doors of the building, and there was her goddess striding out, sunglasses firmly in place. She was blocking her path to her car. She saw Roy come around to get the door, but waved him off and opened it herself. Miranda pulled the glasses off and looked at her with a look she had never seen before. It was cold and it was hot all in the same moment. She wasn't sure if she had once again over stepped her bounds, but the small, sudden tick up of lips made her chest loosen in the most wonderful way. Miranda finished the journey to the car and stood eye to eye with her.

"Get in." The order was clear and one that Andy was all too happy to obey. She would take what she could get from this woman, just like a good puppy, even if it meant having her head snapped off and her heart shredded and stomped on with gorgeous Prada shoes. She dashed around to the other side, which Roy opened for her with a quizzical look. She shrugged and slid in. Miranda got in and shut her door, for once leaving her glasses off and slid the privacy window closed. She didn't need the man to witness her emotions. She turned to look at the young woman beside her, took in her still sleek brown hair, her big brown eyes and the small smile that was decorating her lips.

Miranda waited to see if she would ask why she had been invited into the car, but Andy didn't say a word. She seemed to be content to sit in the silence. But she wasn't. She needed to know why she had left, why she hadn't blacklisted this little girl who had been by far the best assistant she had ever had.

"Why?" Her tone was soft, and for a moment, Andy wasn't sure she'd heard her at all. She looked up sharply at the older woman. She wanted to play dumb, but that would be a death sentence when it came to someone like Miranda. She might as well own up and tell her the truth. This could well be her last and definitely her only chance to tell her how she felt.

"I couldn't stay a moment longer, and live with my heart. Turns out I left it too when I walked away." Andy answered, looking away. For once in her life Miranda had been rendered utterly speechless. She had just been given the most precious gift she'd ever received and she couldn't even formulate a thought to tell the wonderful young woman beside her just how much such a gift meant to her. She must have made some kind of noise, because the girl was suddenly looking at her again, an apology poised on her lips. Those lips, so soft and enticing to look at. Sweet looking, and she wondered if they tasted as sweet as they looked. She leaned in a pressed her own mouth to the younger woman's, tasting her, reveling in the sugar and honey flavor of her. It was marvelous.

Andy hadn't known what to expect with her revelation hanging between them. Being tossed out of the car had crossed her mind, but quickly evaporated when she felt the press of Miranda's lips to her own. It was the most amazing feeling she'd ever felt, and she was suddenly catapulted into ecstasy. They pulled away a moment later to breathe, and she was graced with the most beautiful sight she'd ever seen: Miranda smiling a full smile. Andy felt like she'd just been given her own gift.

They rode the rest of the way to Miranda's destination gazing at each other, hands clasped gently on the seat between them. They didn't need words at that moment. There would be plenty of time for them later. For now, both women were content to revel in their new found love.


End file.
